Whistle-blowing Cost Job In Naperville, Suit Claims

June 04, 1992|By Joseph Sjostrom.

A former employee of the Naperville Electrical Department has sued the city, claiming he was fired for reporting potential safety hazards to his superiors.

The suit was filed by William J. Becker Jr. who, according to the document, was hired as an electric utility supervisor last Jan. 27. It doesn`t say when he was fired, although he was still employed there in April, according to documents filed with the complaint.

Mayor Sam Macrane said Wednesday he was unaware of the details of Becker`s suit, and declined to comment. Attempts to reach officials in the city Personnel and Electrical Departments for comment were not successful.

The safety concerns alleged by Becker were similar to ones raised by some utility linemen earlier this year, which were investigated by the Illinois Department of Labor.

The state agency last month found no violations of federal safety standards, but said that the file will remain open while inspectors monitor the utility every month or two for an undetermined period.

Problems at the Naperville Electric Department, the second largest municipally owned utility in the state after Springfield`s, were made public by utility linemen after communications broke down with management about their safety concerns.

The linemen charged that management belittled safety complaints while the utility spent $55 million since 1988 to upgrade service in the growing city and alleviate chronic power outages.

Acting director Alan Poole has pledged to make safety a high priority.

Becker`s suit, filed Tuesday in Du Page County Circuit Court, asks for $100,000 in damages but doesn`t ask for his job back. Neither Becker nor his attorney could be reached for comment Wednesday.

The suit includes copies of three memos that Becker says he wrote to his superiors in April that resulted in his dismissal.

One memo dated April 7 contended a particular utility pole described only by a work order number had a rotten core, was placed in unsuitable soil, and was leaning excessively.

``In the event of pole failure, I will have no other recourse than to make this memo and my notes public,`` the memo stated.